James Harden reminded everyone that he is still a top-five NBA player in the Houston Rockets season opener against Portland.
Despite all the controversy surrounding James Harden and his future as a Houston Rocket over the past month, the eight-time All-Star and former league MVP did not let it affect his performance on the court in Houston’s season opener against the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Rockets were missing John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Gordon, and Ben McLemore due to COVID-19 issues, but Harden still found a way to not only have a monster scoring night with 44 points but also to get his teammates involved, dishing out a career-high-tying 17 assists.
This marked Harden’s fourth 40+ point and 15+ assist game of his career. To put how impressive this accomplishment is in perspective, no other NBA player has more than two 40+ point and 15+ assist games since 1983.
And even though the Rockets ended up losing this game in overtime, Harden once again proved that he is unguardable in one-on-one situations and has it in his DNA to come up big in clutch situations.
Take a look at these two straight 3-pointers Harden hit that would have given Houston the win if not for CJ McCollum’s big bucket in the final seconds of overtime.
44pts/17ast for Harden! pic.twitter.com/Fo7mkGh5Zr
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) December 27, 2020
James Harden’s magnificent performance that nearly powered the shorthanded Rockets to a victory over Portland, who many believe is one of the Western Conference’s top teams, reinforces the fact that Houston can not afford to trade away The Beard.
Harden is a once-in-a-generation type of talent who is currently playing at a level that very few players in NBA history have played at. Harden has led the league in scoring for the past three seasons, carried the Houston Rockets to the playoffs for eight straight years no matter what his supporting cast looks like, and finishing top-three in MVP voting year after year just to name a few of his many accomplishments.
No player or future players via draft picks that Houston could acquire by trading Harden is worth it because the chances of that player being able to even come close to replicating what Harden does and means to a team are basically zero.
Harden, in terms of what he can do on his own, means more to a team than any other player in the league, with the exception of LeBron James. A team led by James Harden always has a chance to win no matter who the supporting cast is.
Curry has always had mountains of help. pic.twitter.com/Rm7TpGMK4M
— Cole (@cs_derrick13) December 25, 2020
And with Houston’s revamped roster, Harden has the most talent around him, from top to bottom, that he’s ever had during his time as a Rockets. This means that if Harden fully commits and buys into Stephen Silas’ system then Houston not only has a chance to be one of the top teams in the West but has a legitimate chance to win a title, something that has eluded Harden his entire career.
The bottom line is that no matter what a team throws at Houston for Harden, nothing will come close to being worth parting ways with one of the greatest scorers in NBA history. The Houston Rockets must hold onto Harden, even if it means continuing to be uncomfortable with all the outside noise surrounding The Beard because the 31-year old has proven that he is still among the NBA’s best players.